tyb
DC Solar Scammed Warren Buffett Out Of Over $300 Million
DC Solar was once the "business" that allowed Jeff Carpoff, his friends and business associates to live the high life, according to Bloomberg. Unfortunately, as Warren Buffett found out the hard way, it was all one big "ponzi type scheme".
The company's purported business of making mobile solar generators was so good that it even enticed Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway as an investor. Carpoff and his wife, Paulette, owned more than 90 cars and at least 20 properties – and even a professional baseball team – as a result of their company's "success". On top of that, they had swanky holiday parties, with rapper Pitbull even headlining the company’s most recent one.
But, like many too good to be true stories, law-enforcement agents brought it all to an end, alleging that the couple's extravagant life and business was built on a ponzi type scheme.
Their company, DC Solar, is now out of business, with most of its 100 workers unemployed. The couple's home is in foreclosure and $1.8 million in cash has been seized from their safe and the couple's offices. The FBI also took many of the couples' luxury cars.
The couple, according to authorities, had managed to encourage solar investments into an $800 million "fraud scheme" that promised big federal tax credits and profits to investors. Berkshire, as we noted in a previous article, sunk more than $300 million into the company, as did insurer Progressive Corp. In fact, there were about six regional banks that were also backers of the company, including East West Bancorp Inc., Valley National Bancorp and United Financial Bancorp Inc.
They all put money into funds set up by DC Solar that allegedly afforded significant tax credits.
The company was supposed to use the money to build mobile generators to supply power at sporting events and outdoor venues.
Instead, evidence suggested that DC Solar "engaged in nearly no legitimate business", according to the government. The company reportedly built only a fraction of the more than 12,000 units it claimed and used much of the money from their new investors to pay off old ones, while funding the couples' lavish spending at the same time.
The fall of the company is forcing many investors, including Berkshire, to take charges on tax breaks that they booked worth millions. It’s also shining a light on the Federal Tax Credit which, since 2006, has helped solar surge from an alternative electrical resource into the US mainstream. Many of the country's biggest banks, including Bank of America and J.P. Morgan, now invest in the alternative energy for the tax benefits.
Carpoff is claiming his innocence, through his lawyer: “DC Solar Solutions was an innovative, substantial and credible solar-energy business. It manufactured thousands of mobile solar generators, which were examined and physically delivered. Any allegation that there was a Ponzi scheme or anything illegal about the operation of the business is without merit.”
Carpoff had previously claimed that AT&T and T-Mobile were "early adopters" of the company's products. AT&T said DC solar was never one of its vendors.
Aside from getting the means to commit fraud through the government's tax credit, DC Solar also got credibility from the government. In 2016, a U.S. Transportation Department press release described DC Solar as among “some of the most innovative folks in the private sector.”
At the same time, the Carpoffs worked to build their profile by engaging in charitable pursuits and owning a local baseball team.
Overall, the company attracted at least a dozen investors to its tax equity funds who bought each mobile unit for $150,000, but paid only $45,000 in cash - the maximum amount of the tax credit that they could claim. They were told that the company would lease the equipment to end-users, which would pay off the remainder of the $150,000 owed.
The alleged reality was that DC Solar didn’t lease generators to third parties and instead, about 90% of the money that one of its affiliated companies claimed as lease revenue was actually new investor money. To fake owning the generators, employees placed GPS transponders in spots where generators weren't located, but were supposed to be. In 2016, new investor money accounted for $50 million of the company's claim of $55 million in revenue, according to a former employee
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-05/meet-couple-who-scammed-warren-buffett-out-over-300-million
ty baker, will collect for the next baker.
honored to be watching this now, seeing all the old vets in very moving.
o7
as was I, no sleep on that weekend. Much different now and thankful for that.
have a good rest of your night/day
yes it is
got notes going but it's on ghost
#8548
D'oh
Ghost bake notification
Notables collected for incoming baker, not endorsements.
>>6684179, >>6684294 D-Day commemorative with President Trump in France Streaming LIVE
>>6684204 POTUS receives medal from vet (pic)
>>6684236, >>6684349 Pelosi tells dems she wants POTUS 'in prison' (politico/breitbart)
>>6684313 POTUS' intro is cut off (video)
>>6684373 Anon proof from Q post #'s 1476,1477-missing 'D'
>>6684379 NYPD Chief Kills Himself Just Days Before Retirement
>>6684399 POTUS/FLOTUS pic (nice one anon)
>>6684400 Inmate Provides Photos of Julian Assange, Says the ‘Internet is the One Thing They Can’t Control’-(Gateway Pundit-…tread lightly here because of source)
>>6684411 THE D-DAY TOUR: CODE NAMES; Where 'D-Day' and 'H-Hour' Came From (NY Times Archive)
>>6684418 The Planned Parenthood sex scandal you aren't reading about-(Wash. Exam.)
o7
they couldn't get a better car for macron then that?
take this and trick it out with the needed security stuff. The car they have is a disgrace. These were way ahead of time.
BTW you catch the greeting between macron and munchkins towards the end? was just before camera cut away to different scene.
Banks Fined $91 Million Over FX as Essex Express Rides Again
Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Plc are among global banks fined a total of 90 million Swiss francs ($91 million) by Switzerland’s competition regulator for their roles in colluding on foreign-exchange rates.
Barclays was fined 27 million francs, Citigroup 28.5 million francs and JPMorgan Chase & Co. was hit with a 9.5 million-franc penalty, Switzerland’s Competition Commission said Thursday. UBS Group AG avoided a fine because it helped reveal the existence of the cartel.
The Swiss sanctions come after years of investigation by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic into how traders used chatrooms to fix leading currency exchange rates. Five of the banks agreed last month to pay 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to resolve a European Union probe into forex collusion.
Traders at Barclays, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and UBS ran online chatrooms to share sensitive information over six years in a cartel that was known as the “Three-way banana split,” according to Comco. Traders at Barclays, MUFG Bank, RBS and UBS operated the so-called Essex Express, named for the commuter train they all took, to fix trades in a similar manner between 2009 and 2012, according to the Swiss regulator.
Comco fined RBS 22.5 million francs and MUFG Bank Ltd. 1.5 million francs. An investigation into Credit Suisse Group AG’s role is continuing. Bank Julius Bär & Co. AG and Zürcher Kantonalbank have been cleared of wrongdoing, according to Olivier Schaller, Comco’s deputy director.
The Swiss sanctions bring a wave of regulatory probes one step closer to conclusion after traders’ manipulation of benchmark foreign-exchange rates was exposed in 2013, triggering investigations in the U.S. and the U.K. To date, more than a dozen financial institutions have paid about $11.8 billion in fines and penalties globally, with another $2.3 billion spent to compensate customers and investors.
Switzerland’s Comco avoided the damning language of its counterparts, saying only that the sanctioned banks “have committed not to conclude such agreements in the future.” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said last month that its fines “send a clear message that the commission will not tolerate collusive behavior in any sector of the financial markets.”
Comco’s decision can be appealed to the Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court, but it wasn’t immediately clear if any of the banks would do so. Some of the banks had benefited from a leniency program that led to a reduction of the fine, the regulator said.
MUFG said in an email that the fine relates to “one individual’s conduct” at the bank, and that it’s “taken a number of measures to prevent this occurring again.” Officials at other lenders fined Thursday declined to comment or couldn’t be immediately reached.
Credit Suisse is cooperating fully with Comco’s probe and “intends to vigorously contest the substance of the allegations,” the bank said in an email. “A number of other regulators have concluded their FX-related inquiries without taking any enforcement action against Credit Suisse,’ the bank added.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-05/st-james-s-place-funds-end-mandate-with-woodford-investment-jwjdg76m
Morning Market Report
Futures show a decent rise and looking to add to yesterday's action. China was at it again and threw around $72b in yuan through
yet another medium term 'liquidity' injection, i.e. the fired up the printing press again.
Treasury notes are acting up again. Yields are dropping after rising slowly yesterday. See third headline below.
Some business and financial related headlines
China’s PBOC Injects $72 Billion to Roll Over Medium-Term Funds
The loans, the second-largest of their kind on record, were offered Thursday just as 463 billion yuan of facilities come due.
https://www.bloomberg.com//news/articles/2019-06-06/china-calms-markets-with-second-largest-cash-injection-onrecord?srnd=markets-vp
they will continue to do this as they have no choice.
Treasury yields tick lower on U.S-Mexico trade jitters
Treasury prices rose Thursday, dragging yields lower, as trade uncertainty reared its head again after President Donald Trump said trade talks with Mexico had not made enough progress.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-tick-lower-on-us-mexico-trade-jitters-2019-06-06?
ECB Extends Forward Guidance, Will Keep Rates Unchanged Until First Half Of 2020, Announces TLTRO Terms
With the ECB scrambling to offset the accelerating European contraction, moments ago Mario Draghi announced that the three main rates would remain unchanged (as expected) at least through the first half of 2020,
extending the "patient" forward guidance period, from "the end of 2019" previously. The Governing Council now expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels at least through the first half of 2020,
and in any case for as long as necessary to ensure the continued sustained convergence of inflation to levels that are below, but close to, 2% over the medium term.
And while the ECB also noted that it would continue reinvesting principal bond maturities, "for as long as necessary to maintain favorable liquidity conditions and an ample degree of monetary accommodation" as expected,
the notable other change in today's statement was the ECB's disclosure of the terms of the TLTRO, which "will be set at a level that is 10 basis points above the average rate applied in the Eurosystem’s main refinancing
operations over the life of the respective TLTRO." For those banks whose eligible net lending exceeds a benchmark, "the rate applied in TLTRO III will be lower and can be as low as the average interest rate on the deposit facility
prevailing over the life of the operation plus 10 basis points."
While in line with expectations, the TLTRO rate was seen as slightly less favorable than expected by the market.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-06/ecb-extends-forward-guidance-will-keep-rates-unchanged-until-first-half-2020?
Like China, they are screwed.
Meanwhile Mexico’s peso plunged as much as 1.3% under a double whammy from trade woes and ratings agency Fitch downgrading the country’s credit rating to BBB, while Moody’s changed its outlook to negative from stable. All of this saw the dollar jump 0.7% against a beleaguered Mexican peso.
ooops- this is not necessarily a bad thing for them as it will increase the purchasing power of the peso and allow them to purchase moar from us.
US Event Calendar-data
7:30am: Challenger Job Cuts YoY, prior
10.9%
8:30am: Trade Balance, est. $50.7b deficit,
prior $50.0b deficit
8:30am: Nonfarm Productivity, est. 3.5%,
prior 3.6%; Unit Labor Costs, est. -0.9%,
prior -0.9%
8:30am: Initial Jobless Claims, est. 215,000,
prior 215,000; Continuing Claims, est.
1.66m,prior 1.66m
9:45am: Bloomberg Consumer Comfort,
prior 60.8
12pm: Household Change in Net Worth,
prior $3.73t deficit
We’re also due to hear from the BoJ’s Kuroda this morning, the BoE’s Carney and then the Fed’s Kaplan and Williams this afternoon. President Trump is also expected to meet with French President Macron while Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers the keynote address at an international economic forum in Russia.
https://www.dailyfx.com/crude-oil
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/bond/tmubmusd10y?countrycode=bx
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-06/rally-fizzles-trade-tensions-mount-central-banks-say-buy-buy-buy
I used about 5 total sentences from the ZH article, and the US mkt data snapshot but must credit the source.
o7